Elliott to vote for Cawley option

LOWELL -- All signs point to a new Lowell High School at Cawley Stadium.

The latest city councilor to announce his support for a school there is Rodney Elliott, who sent a letter to The Sun on Friday titled "The Case for Yes."

Elliott, who's been called the "fiscal watchdog" of the nine-member City Council for opposing past budgets and projects, would be one of five councilors voting for the Cawley site at Tuesday's meeting. A high school at Cawley would result in the highest cost to the city.

"Voting no on spending money would be the easy vote for me," Elliott, who's also a member of the School Building Committee, wrote. "Some have speculated that is what I'll do with this vote. Anyone who believes I would leave children in substandard conditions clearly does not know me at all.

"There has been far too much division and acrimony over the course of this debate," he added. "No matter what your position on this issue, we all need to come together and support the final outcome. For me, it's time to say yes. Yes to Cawley."

The five councilors expected to vote for Cawley on Tuesday are Elliott, James Leary, Rita Mercier, Dan Rourke and Corey Belanger.

The four councilors expected to vote for keeping the high school downtown are Mayor Edward Kennedy, John Leahy, James Milinazzo and Bill Samaras.

A school at Cawley Stadium would cost $336 million for a five-story building, or $339 million for a four-story building.

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The reimbursement amount is different at Cawley than it is for renovations downtown, so the two school options there come in at the highest cost to the city: $149 million and $152 million, respectively.

The price tag for Option Three, a renovation and addition to the current school that includes the acquisition of an adjacent office building, is $352 million. But after reimbursements from the state, the city's share is estimated at $143 million.

Option Two, a renovation and addition to the downtown school on the current footprint, would cost $343 million overall and $135 million to the city. A renovation to the existing buildings, with no new construction, would cost $343 million, $130 million of which would be charged to Lowell.

"We were led to believe the Cawley option was going to be astronomically higher than the downtown," Elliott wrote. "When all was said and done, that did not occur.

"After reviewing all the alternatives and looking at what has occurred in the past with LHS renovations, I truly believe once you get into a renovation project, the cost will skyrocket," he added.

There would be "endless opportunities" for economic development if the high school left downtown, according to Elliott.

"I see luxury condos bringing in excess of $4 million dollars of tax revenue that will offset the cost of a new facility where the LHS buildings now stand, and new downtown residents with disposable income spending money in our restaurants," he wrote.

"I see the ability to save millions of dollars by freeing up spaces in the Ayotte Garage and not having to build another parking facility," Elliott added. "I see the sale of Lowell High School of $3 to $4 million providing revenue for sidewalks and lights at a new high school."

A Cawley Stadium school could be built in three years with no disruption to students. Elliott stressed in the letter that he wouldn't want his child's education disrupted in a construction zone, nor "subject children to potentially hazardous conditions."

Votes by the School Building Committee and City Council were scheduled for last Tuesday, but were postponed due to the illness of Samaras, who serves on both panels with Elliott and Kennedy.

The two meetings are scheduled for Tuesday:

* The 19-member School Building Committee will convene at 10 a.m. in the mayor's reception room in City Hall.

* The City Council will convene at 6:30 p.m. in the council chambers.

The School Building Committee will recommend one of the five high school options to the council. The council can either accept or reject it. If the recommendation is rejected, then a councilor will put forward another motion for a different site.

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